tomic nailed it better than I did, on the subject of increasing the effective mass of your tonearm. I should have noted, as he suggested, that the closer you are to the headshell directly over the cantilever, the more the added mass adds to "effective mass". Effective mass is a complex product of how mass is distributed between the tonearm pivot and the cantilever and between the tonearm pivot and the center of mass of the counter-weight (CW). So, for example, if you add 5g at the pivot, it will affect effective mass very little, if at all. 5g on top of the headshell adds essentially 5g to effective mass. Similarly, the CW adds to effective mass as the product of its mass multiplied by the square of the distance between the pivot point and the center of mass of the CW. So moving the CW away from the pivot point has a disproportionate effect on effective mass. I can never remember which standard US coin weighs 5g, but its either a penny, a dime, or a nickel. Many use a dab of blutac to stick a coin right on top of the headshell, thereby adding 5g to effective mass.
Origin live Cartridge Enabler - a review
This is a basic review aimed at those who are in a similar
middle lane of the audiophile analogue motorway.
Enhancements are plentiful for turntables and provoke much intense debate.
However I feel as though the use of them is particularly relevant for those
like me who have turntables at a lower end level.
So after much review and forum research I decided on Origin live also because I
could save on delivery by obtaining a few items at the same time. Analogueseduction
is another good option in this regard. Unfortunately, the platter mat I also ordered hadn’t
been packed, so I only had their brush and the enabler to enjoy.
I`m aware that the theory is to channel unwanted disturbances from the cartridge into the arm, but I`ve always considered that just damping them would be better. Anyhow that in simple terms is the Enablers job.
The turntable itself is a 1990`s Roksan Xerses, the (platter is aluminium). I have an old Ringmat as platter mat at present. The arm an SME IV, the cartridge a VD Hul retipped Koetsu Black.
I became familiar with a fine pressing of Alan Parsons Eve, first track Lucifer which has quite a lot of detail before installation of the Enabler.
So installation was a bit fiddly, and note well, you will need bolts that are at least 5 mm longer to successfully complete the job. I made every effort to set the VTA as it was before installation, and checked alignments and the settings to make sure that they hadn’t changed.
The very first impression is that the sound is slightly thinner. Straight after that you realize that is because some of the – ringing, bloom? has been removed. So for example, a percussive tap, ting or knock is more definite. Again the bass is slightly lighter, but far less boomy. I player a Peter Gabriel track that sounded overblown in the bass when I listened a couple of days before. Now the bass was tuneful and balanced in tone with the rest of the instruments.
So initial impressions are ones of a satisfactory improvement, and again I maintain that with more modest equipment, if care is taken with the details, the end result can result in a worthwhile improvement. So as the professional reviewers say – highly recommended!
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- 31 posts total
- 31 posts total